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World’s largest snake dies in childbirth, according to officials

Record-setting python dies three days after being captured by construction workers.

In a short three days, the discovery of what may be the world’s largest snake ever found, has sadly ended in the death of the reticulated python, just after giving birth, according to an article in the Washington Post.

Muhammad Aizat, a member of the Penang Civil Defense Department team that caught the snake, said the death of the snake could have been caused by the stress of being captured, along with the added stress of giving birth.

The python was captured by construction workers at a site in Paya Terubong on Penang, an island in Southeast Asia. The workers spotted the snake stuck under a fallen tree and called the Civil Defense Department, which said it took a half-hour to capture the reptile.

If the official measurements confirm the initial, the snake will be the longest snake on record, reaching over 26 feet in length, and weighing in at 550 pounds. The current holder of the Guinness World Record is Medusa, also a reticulated python, living now in Kansas City, Mo. It took 10 men to hold Medusa for a measurement in 2011, and she was recorded at 25 feet, two inches. Prior to Medusa, the record holder was a python named Fluffy, at 24 feet in length.

According to the BBC, Aizat said the python in the process of laying eggs, laid one egg before going “quiet.” The snake was scheduled to be transferred to the government’s Department of Wildlife before it passed away.

A reported video of a man apparently kicking the snake has surfaced, leaving some to speculate the python died of internal injuries related to its discovery and subsequent capture. The construction workers posed for photos with the snake after its capture, and reportedly some are showing a noose around its neck, that may have also contributed to the demise of the snake.

An article on telegraph.co.uk says the reptile was kept in an office for hours, where it was fed and watered until the experts arrived to transport the snake from the site.